Course Name: Preparing for the Canadian Amateur Radio Examinations

TAKE Victoria’s AMATEUR RADIO Course, sponsored by the Westcoast Amateur Radio Association, and JOIN the Amateur Radio Service. Become qualified to:

Antenna Building

Be an Emergency Radio Operator

Talk to the International Space Station

Use IRLP to talk to Antarctica, Australia, Asia, or America

Practice Moon bounce communication

Explore solar flux

or just talk to friends in Victoria, Canada, and the Whole Wide World

Lectures, texts, hands on sessions, antenna construction, and station visits for hands-on experience. The Course starts in January, 2018. There are no prerequisites other than a desire to study and work hard for a few months. You will work towards your Basic Certification, but may also study for Morse and Advanced Certifications if you wish.

Course components

During each evening class an instructor talks to the students about one of the chapters in the textbook. There is plenty of time for questions and discussions. All the instructors are volunteers so you can be sure that they are keen about their subject as well as being knowledgeable. At about 8 pm there is a break for coffee and a chance to get to know the other students in your class. This gives you a small group of friends who will be going on the air at the same time as you. Consequently you need never wonder who you can call to test out your brand new radio – simply call one of your classmates.

Questions at the end of each chapter form homework. The Director of Education keeps an eye open for students who are slipping behind or having difficulties. In this way, help can be provided before it is too late.

In the middle of the session there is a group of three Saturday morning Station Visits. These are visits in small groups to four different amateur stations in the area. Here is an opportunity to see what a ham shack looks like, what the equipment is like, what the antennas are like, and an opportunity to get on the air. To begin with, the station owner makes the contacts and simply hands the mike over to a student so that he/she has a chance to overcome mike shyness. However, by the end of the group of four visits each student has had an opportunity to make a contact, check into a net, and pass traffic to another student. These contacts are made not only on the very popular 2-m band, but also on one of the high frequency bands such as are used for longer distance communications. Saturday morning workshops are also held to assemble a small electronics project such as a Morse code oscillator, to build an antenna, and to solder connectors onto antenna cable.

The examinations come around all too soon. Most of the students are thoroughly enjoying themselves and eager to get a radio and get on the air. Code tests for those who wish this additional certification can be done before or after the theory examination. The code tests are three minutes receiving and three minutes sending so they don’t take very long even though the testing is one at a time. One evening is set aside for the examination. Some students have completed the paper (and passed) in about half an hour whereas a few take up to three hours. Papers are marked on the spot by accredited examiners and the results are known almost immediately.

$350 couple or 2 family members (i.e. parent, child) living in the same residence and sharing one set of printed material

$125 WARA member for refresher/upgrading training

$100 registered student (with student card)

$50 for extra set of printed material

No discount if exam not taken

Tuition Includes:

A 200+ page WARA textbook written by experienced local instructors

Copies of relevant Radio Information Circulars by Industry Canada

Examination fees for Basic and optional Advanced examinations taken on exam day

Associate Membership in WARA (valid up to renewal time in the fall)

Instructors: The WARA Instructor Team

Date: January to AprilDays: Mondays and Thursdays, 7 pm to 9 pm, plus some Saturday morning practical sessionsClass Location: CRD Headquarters at Fisgard and Government, and #25 Burnside Rd W. (the home of Search and Rescue Society of BC – SARBC) Class limited to 24, on a first come (fees paid) basis.

HOW TO REGISTER for WARA Classes

Fees: You may pay below using PayPal or by mailing your cheque to WARA. To avoid extra work for us, please do not pay the fees until you have been accepted into the course.

Type

Westcoast Amateur Radio Association
PO Box 48047
Victoria BC V8Z 7H5

Our fees are deliberately kept as low as possible. We can do that because our instructors give freely of their time at no charge. Consequently the fees are much lower than the cost of courses at other evening classes such as the schools, community colleges and universities.